The Brother's Story
by TGGT
Summary: Delmon is a police officer. And when the dead start walking, he has the only goal of finding his parents and his little sister Clementine, while trying to survive with the people he also considers his family.
1. Panic on the streets

Chapter 1: Panic on the streets

Day 2 of outbreak

"Cmon!"

He held the phone up to his ear as the ringing of the call tone continued.

"Please pick up!"

No answer.

He quickly hung up the phone and called the same number.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up. Please answer god damn it!"

The call went to voicemail.

"Fuck it."

'Please leave your message after the beep.'

Beep

"Hello? Sandra right? It's Delmon, Clem's brother… There is some bad stuff happening right now, if you or Clementine are hearing this, stay inside, lock the door, and stay away from the windows! If anyone knocks on the door, don't answer. I'm on my way, I'm taking a car with my friends down there, I should be there by tomorrow. I'm trying to get in contact with my parents but the lines are backed up, I'm lucky I can even leave this message. Stay safe, I love you Clemen-"

Beep.

"God fucking damn it!" Delmon yelled almost throwing the phone angrily.

He had no idea what the hell was happening. He stormed through the door into the next room.

"Jesse! Is the car ready yet!"

"They're putting the last stuff in it right now." He paused for a second, "Did your family answer?"

"The answering machine picked up, and my parents aren't answering either."

"Dude, calm down, I'm sure they're fine…"

"Where the hell is Rey?"

"He's trying to call his family and girlfriend" Jesse said.

"We need to hurry."

"No shit. But we cant leave without stuff."

Reynaldo walked into the room and looked at Delmon, "They answer?" He asked.

"No… Your girlfriend okay?"

"She's with her mom, they're trying to get out of the city. I told her to ditch her car since there is so much traffic, they will be able to go faster on foot."

"Atlanta is more than likely screwed." Jesse said as he packed his bag.

Delmon nodded, "Hostiles are probably everywhere at this point. All the more reason to get out of here."

"Cmon, Owen and Richard are probably done packing the shit in the car." Reynaldo said as he grabbed his bag.

"Let's go then."

They walked outside with their stuff and watched as Richard closed the trunk. Owen opened the driver's side door and got in. They all had pistols and knives, except for Jesse, who had a assault rifle. Richard spotted them, "You guys ready!"

"Yeah, and keep your voice down, there could be hostiles nearby." Jesse said as he walked to the passenger door.

"Rich, you still got that walkie?" Delmon asked.

"Yeah."

"Give it to me."

"Sure." he said taking it out and handing it to him, "What do ya need it for?"

"My little sister always keeps her's with her, I'm going to try and use it once we get in range since cellphones are basically useless, and hope that it even works."

"Do you even know what channel she's on?" Reynaldo cut in.

"I'll try every single one if I have to."

"Well then, let's hurry up, we're wasting daylight." Richard said.

They all got in and buckled up, Owen started the car and began driving, as he did, he began fiddling with the car radio. It was silent until a voice came through.

'This is an emergency broadcast system, an outbreak of an unidentified virus has broken loose, it is requested that you stay inside until further notice. This message shall repeat.'

Owen shut off the radio, "So much for listening to tunes."

"Really man."

"What? It's gonna be a long drive."

...

Delmon opened his eyes, it was morning now, he was surprised that he was even able to sleep with all the stress. Jesse, Richard, and Reynaldo looked like they were still asleep in the back, he looked up at Owen, who was still driving, "You want switch man, I could drive for a while."

Owen slightly jumped at his voice, before turning to Delmon, "Don't worry Del, I can go for a little while longer."

"You look tired." He said looking at the bags under his eyes.

"Because I am."

"Then maybe you should get some rest." He said.

They were silent for a few seconds before Owen looked back at Delmon, "Yeah… yeah your right, the car is almost out of gas anyway." He said looking at the fuel gauge, "We have a gas can in the trunk right?"

"Pretty sure we have two."

"Good." He said as he slowly pulled the car over.

Delmon and Owen got out and walked over to the trunk.

"You see any other cars?" Delmon asked.

"One passed us a few hours ago, they probably escaped the city."

"Lucky for them." He said as he opened the trunk. He looked at what they had, about a weeks worth of food, an extra knife, , some rope, some medical supplies(Owen has medical knowledge), water, a few lighters, bullets, and two gas cans.

Delmon grabbed one of the gas cans, "You hungry?" He said motioning to the food.

"Naw, I'm good."

Delmon shut the trunk and walked over to the side of the car, he opened the cap and began to fill the car with gas, as he did he looked over to Owen, "You got any family? I've never asked you before, I would be fine if you wanted to go find them."

Owen shook his head, "Nope, I was an only child, and my mom passed away a few years ago, I never met my dad," He paused there for a few seconds, "You guys are the closest thing I have to family, so the least I can do is make sure you find yours."

"Thanks man…"

"When was the last time you saw them?" Owen asked.

"Christmas... So like, half a year ago. But I would try to call them every week or so…"

"We'll find them, don't wor-"

The sound of bushes being moved suprised them. They turned towards the sound, after a few seconds, a hostile(Which is what they started calling them) appeared from out of the shrubbery. They stared at it for a few seconds, "I got it." Delmon said.

"You sure?"

Delmon nodded.

"Okay, remember what we learned, go for the head."

"R-Right."

Delmon walked over to it, it's arms reached towards him, and he pulled out his knife. He grabbed it on the shoulder to keep it from biting him, and he stabbed the knife up right into the bottem of it's head. It went limp and fell to the ground, Delmon stared down at it for a few seconds.

"You okay man?" Owen asked.

"Yeah." Delmon looked to Owen, "Do… Do you think we'll get used to killing these things?"

"I don't know... I try not to think of them as people." Owen answered, putting the empty gas can back in the trunk and then closing it.

"Yeah... Cmon, let's go." Delmon said getting into drivers seat.

Owen got into the front seat as Delmon started the car.

"Get some sleep Owen… You're going to need it."

Owen nodded, he leaned against the window and closed his eyes as Delmon started driving.

...

About thirty minutes later, Delmon heard shuffling in the back, he looked in the rear view mirror. Jesse sat up and looked at Delmon before he sighed, "I was hoping it was just some shitty nightmare." He said.

There was a short pause.

"Well... Welcome back to reality I guess." Delmon said.

"How long have you been driving?"

"About thirty minutes, Owen drove all night"

Jesse looked to the sleeping figure of Owen and then back at Delmon, "How long before we reach Georgia?" He asked.

"We're already in Georgia, But it should be about an hour before we reach my house, and let's hope Reynaldo's girlfriend made it out of the city."

"Here's to hoping." Jesse said.

After about ten minutes of silence Delmon spotted something up ahead.

"Shit." He muttered.

"What?" Jesse asked.

"Look."

There was a car on the side of the road, not only a car, there were people too. One of those people were waving us down, "Should we stop?" Delmon asked, "They may need help."

"Yeah... Go ahead."

Delmon began slowing down and told Jesse to wake Richard and Reynaldo up. Jesse began shaking them, "Get up."

"What's happening? We there yet?" Reynaldo asked sitting up.

"Nope, there's people in the rode that might need our help." Jesse said as the car came to a stop.

Delmon was the first to get out, " You guys okay?!"

"Car is out of gas, someone already drove past us, I thought you would do the same." A man said.

"You escaped the city?" Jesse questioned as he got out of the car.

"Yeah. There so many of those things. What's your name?"

"I'm Jesse, This is Delmon." He said walking forward, "What's yours?"

"Seth." He said looking at Delmon's badge, "You a cop?"

"Yeah." Delmon answered.

"How many people you got with you?" Jesse asked.

"Four, Including myself." He stated, "There's me, my wife May, my daughter Melissa, and my friend Devin."

"We might be able to give you a ride." Delmon informed him, "But our car is an eight seater, so you will have to squeeze in to fit."

"That would be great, Where are you headed?" Seth asked.

"Close to Atlanta, we're looking for people."

"The city? There were a lot there, that's a bad I idea."

"We're going to try to not go into the city, just around it, like he said." Jesse told him.

The man thought for a moment, "I need to talk with them for a second." he said turning around and walking back to his car.

When he walked away, Jesse turned to Delmon, "Do you think this is a good idea?"

"It wouldn't be right to leave em out here."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He said, "I'll go tell Rey, Rich, and Owen what the situation is."

"Yeah…"

A minute passed and Seth, along with his group got out of the car. The women, who he assumed was May, had short brown hair, brown eyes, and was kind of short. Their daughter Melissa, looked to be about fourteen, she had black hair like her father and brown eyes like her mother, she was wearing a grey jacket. Seth had black hair and blue eyes, and his friend devin had blond hair with blue eyes as well, but looked tired.

"Hello, I want to thank you for helping us." May said.

"It's no problem, we don't know far we can take you though." Delmon stated.

"That's fine." Seth said.

"Is he okay?" Delmon asked, looking over to Devin, who coughed a little.

"Yea, he just got bit by one of those things when we we're getting out of the city." Seth informed him.

"Is it infected? We might have some antibiotics." Delmon asked, now seeing the blood the seeped through Devin's shirt.

"He has a fever, so most likely." May stated.

"We can have Owen take a look at him. Cmon."

They walked towards the car, Delmon opened the door and saw Jesse sitting in the driver's seat, "You driving?" Delmon asked."

Yeah."

"Okay." He turned to Owen, "One of their guys got bitten by one of the hostiles, can you take a look at it."

"Sure." Owen Yawned, he motioned for Devin to come in.

Delmon walked over to the trunk and opened it, he grabbed the medkit and looked inside of it, he saw painkillers, bandages, peroxide, stitching needles and thread, and antibiotics. He closed it and brought it to Owen, "Here." He said.

Devin looked at Delmon, "Thank you for helping us."

"No problem…" Delmon looked over to the rest of them, "You guys ready? Have all your stuff?"

"Yes… thanks." Seth said.

Delmon nodded, "Jesse we still have about an hour to go."

"Yup" He said as he started the car and took it off of park, and started towards Atlanta.


	2. Lost

Chapter 2: Lost

"Nice to meet you." Reynaldo said with a smile, looking at them as the Jesse drove.

"Likewise." Seth said.

"Thank you for helping us and taking care of Devin" May said, "We were getting worried about him."

"It's no problem." Richard butted in, "We're not going to leave people stranded on the side of the road."

"What he said." Reynaldo stated.

"Hello." Richard said to the girl, "I'm Richard."

"I'm Melissa."

"Nice to meet you." Richard stated, "So, how old are you guys."

Seth looked up from Devin, "Oh um, 37. Devin is too."

"I'm 35." May added, "Melissa is 14."

"What about you guys?" Seth asked.

"25." Richard answered.

"I'm 23" Reynaldo added.

"Same as Richard." Jesse said as well.

"24" Owen stated looking up from Devin.

Delmon looked up from the walkie, "23" He said before looking down at it again, "You think we're in range yet?" He asked of Jesse.

"I don't know." Jesse answered, "I would wait awhile though, we dont want to waste the batteries."

"Yeah…"

**One hour later**

"Clem? Are you there?" Delmon spoke into the walkie talkie. He waited for about thirty seconds before he switched the station, "Hello? Anyone?"

Another thirty seconds later he tried again, "Clementine? Can you here me? If you can stay at the house, I'm almost there."

And once again, there was no answer.

He switched the radio off, "Fuck…" he muttered. He had been trying for the last thirty minutes, hoping he would get through to her, he knew that the rest of his group were getting annoyed with the constant talking into the walkie. But they understood why he was doing it.

"He's getting worse." Owen said looking down at Devin, "I don't even need a thermometer to tell that his fever is getting higher, his temperature has changed drastically."

"The antibiotics didn't help?" Delmon said looking down at Devin's bandaged shoulder.

Owen shook his head, "I don't know why."

Looking at Devin, he looked very pale, and the whites of his eyes had turned yellow. Seth was sitting next to Owen and Devin, he looked worried, "Is he going to live?" Seth asked.

"At this rate, the fever could kill him." Owen answered.

"In what way?"

"Really high fevers can cause organ failure, I'm trying my best to cool him down but it isn't working." He paused for a second, "I'm sorry."

"God damn it." Seth said solemnly as Owen placed another rag on Devin's head.

After about five minutes of silence, Jesse stopped the car, "Hey Delmon, which way?"

Delmon looked out the front window and saw a fork in the road, it took him a second to realise where they were, "Left." He said thinking again, "Then take a right at the next intercection."

"Got it."

Delmon unbuckled and moved to the front, stopping in between the driver's and the front seat and continued to give Jesse directions for a few more minutes, "I can see the city." Jesse said looking towards the distant buildings. It had been awhile since Delmon had been here, he knew it would be nothing like he remembered, they all knew going into the city was a horrible idea, so they decided against it. Luckily his parents house was just outside Atlanta, they drove straight for a few more minutes.

"Turn left here." Delmon said, realizing they were getting close to his street.

Jesse followed his direction and turned, after a minute, Delmon spoke up once again, "Turn Right."

They began driving down his old street, passing the familiar houses as they went, "Shit" Jesse muttered has they came to a stop, "There are cars blocking the way."

"My house isn't far, I can walk." He said opening the car door, eager to get to his house, hoping he would find his sister.

"I'll go too." Jesse said taking the keys out of the ignition, "Rich, catch." he said tossing the keys to him.

Richard caught them with one hand and looked at them before locking eyes with Delmon, "If you don't come back, I'll come looking." he said.

Delmon nodded and shut the door to the car.

"Lead the way." Jesse said.

As they walked, Delmon remembered the last time he had been here, Clementine was excited to see him when he came over to Christmas, like she was on Thanksgiving. He always strived to be a good big brother, he remembered calling every week or so. He also thought about the last time he talked to her, she was kind of upset that she wasn't able to go with their parents to Savannah, she also talked about how there was a raccoon in her tree house a few days ago and how their father let her borrow his prized baseball cap. He really hoped she was okay.

Delmon stopped, and looked at the house in front of him.

"This it?" Jesse asked with his rifle in hand.

"Yup…" Delmon said taking his pistol out of his holster.

"Del…" Delmon turned to Jesse, "What ever we find in there…"

"Stop." He interrupted, "She's okay… She has to be."

They walked towards the front door, Delmon knocked loudly on it, "Clem? It's Delmon, you in there?"

No answer…

"Shit…"

He tried the doorknob. Locked. Delmon looked at the door, and then to Jesse, "I gonna kick it in." He said, not even going to try the window.

Jesse nodded.

He stepped back and lifted his leg, he kicked the door as hard as he could. And with a loud crack, the door flew open, he walked in.

"Clementi-" He froze.

There was a body on the floor, and he rushed over to it. Looking at it, the body was female, but too big to be Clementine, blood covered the floor around her, and her face was distorted because it was smashed in by something.

"Who is it?" Jesse asked.

"It's probably her babysitter. I never saw what she looked like, but Clem told me about her on the phone." He said looking at her destroyed face, he stood up and began to walk towards the stairs, as he did, he saw all the blood in the kitchen. He walked past the stand where the phone is and saw the family photo of him, Clementine, and their parents.

He looked away from it and continued walking, "Clem?!" he said rushing upstairs.

He ran to his parents' bedroom, which was the door closest to the stairs. He flew through the door and looked around at the lifeless room. He ran out of the room and went straight into the bathroom, only to find it empty as well.

"No... No. No. No!"

He pushed the door to his sister's room, he ran straight to the closet door to find it empty, and then he ran to the last room in the house. The door to his old bedroom flew open as he began searching it, but once again, it was devoid of life, "Clem!" He yelled, becoming desperate.

He ran down stairs, and made his way towards the backdoor, running past Jesse as he did, he slid the door open as fast as he could.

"Del-"

"Clementine!"

"Delmon!" Jesse yelled.

He barely even looked at Jesse as he bolted into the backyard and climbed the makeshift ladder into the treehouse. It was empty except for some empty cans and a can opener, which he looked at before he climbed back down. He jumped off the ladder on the last few steps and began searching the rest of the yard.

"Clementine!"

No answer.

"Clementi-"

Delmon felt a hand on his shoulder and felt himself be pulled backwards. He landed on the ground with a thud, and looked up to see Jesse standing over him.

"You need to be quiet man, you going to attract unwanted attention." Jesse stated.

"You have no idea-"

"Look I get it, but your going to get yourself killed if you don't shut the fuck up. I'm trying to help you man…"

Delmon sat there for a few seconds before he nodded and Jesse helped a him up.

"Did you see any sign of her?"

"There were some empty cans in her treehouse…" Delmon told him.

"That might be a good sign…" He paused for a second, "Did you leave a voicemail?"

"What?"

"When you called yesterday… Did you leave a message on the answering machine?"

"Yeah…"

"The new message light on it isn't lit up, and the power is still on... So someone must have listened to it." Jesse said.

"So you think that maybe-"

"I'm not saying that your sister is the one that listened to it, I'm saying that someone did, most likely the person who smashed in the face of the babysitter," He said, "and I doubt that your eight year old sister could kill that thing."

"Do you think that whoever listened to it helped my sister?" Delmon asked.

"If they weren't going to help her, they would have left her here, and do you see her around anywhere…"

"But that's just one possibility."

"But it's the most likely one," Jesse argued, "And either way you're not going to find her here."

"She's got to be around somewhere, there's no way she's out of Georgia."

"We'll find her… just not here."

"Yeah… Cmon, let's get back to the car."

They walked through the back gate into the front yard, Delmon needed to find Clementine, he couldn't leave her here. He also needed to get to his parents in Savannah, but him and his sister had the least amount of distance in between them, so Clementine was his number one priority right now.

"Here…" Jesse said holding something up to him.

Delmon looked up and saw him holding the picture frame with the picture of Delmon's family that was on the stand. Delmon took it from him, "Thanks." He said.

"You okay man?" Jesse asked.

"Honestly… No."

"All this shit is so fucked up."

"Yup."

"What the fuck made the dead start walking?"

"I just hope this whole fucking situation will die down, the military should roll in and fix this in the next week or so… So lets just try and survive until then…"

"Ye-"

BANG

They both instinctively ducked down at the sound of the gunshot, it took them a second to realise that it came from the direction of the car.

"Shit! Cmon!" Jesse ordered as he began running.

Delmon followed as fast as he could and they eventually reached the car. They both saw the body of Devin on the ground with a bullet through his head.

"What the fuck happened!?" Jesse yelled as he reached them.

"H- He fucking shot him!" Seth yelled pointing at Reynaldo.

Jesse turned to Reynaldo wide eyed.

"He died!" Reynaldo yelled, "Me and Owen were getting him out of the car and Devin fucking lunged at Owen! He turned into one of those fucking things, and he was about to kill him."

"He was already gone! If he didn't shoot him, I would be fucking dead!" Owen added.

"Hostiles!" Richard yelled.

Everyone turned to see a small horde of them slowly stumbling forward in the distance, following the sound of the gunshot. Delmon bolted towards the car, "Everyone get in! Richard throw me the key!" he yelled as he opened the driver's side door.

Richard did so without question, Delmon caught them and slammed the door shut, and waited until everyone was in before he slammed his foot on the gas. The car sped forward, leaving the body of Devin behind.

"Too fucking close!" Jesse yelled as the hostiles reached the area the gunshot originated from.

"What happened back there, how did he turn?" Delmon asked.

"It was probably the bite," Owen answered, "It looked ten times worse before he died."

"Is that how they make more of those things, a bite is all it takes?" Jesse questioned.

"Seems like it…" Richard said.

"Then this is worse then I thought." Delmon muttered.

"Where do we go now… What's the plan?" Richard questioned after a few seconds.

"What happened at the house Delmon?" Reynaldo asked.

Delmon was silent for a moment, "There was blood in the kitchen and I found my sister's babysitter with her face smashed in, she must have turned…"

"Jesus…"

"I couldn't find Clem though, and there was evidence showing that someone else was in the house. So she might be with them. I can only hope that they're good people, whoever she's with…"

"I said we would find her man." Jesse said.

"Yeah," Delmon realised something, "What if they went to Atlanta?"

"Then that would be a problem." Richard stated.

"I'm sure whoever she's with isn't dumb enough to go there," Jesse said, "It's a death trap, the only reason someone would go there is if they were looking for friends and family." He gave Delmon a look.

"Yeah… I won't go there, don't worry."

"Good, because I do want to help you, but I'm not going to risk everyone that is here's life to find her."

Delmon nodded solemnly.

"We still need to figure out where to go." Richard added.

"Away from the city," Seth said, "I'm not having my family anywhere near that place."

"We passed through Macon on our way here," Owen said, "We could always head there."

"Anywhere that's closer?" Delmon asked, wanting to search the closer areas for his sister.

"Probably, I need to check a map though. I was following road signs the entire time I was driving." Owen said.

"Here." Jesse said handing Owen his bag, "The map is in the front pocket."

Owen opened it and pulled out the map.

There were a few seconds of silence, "McDonough… It's a city about 20 miles away. Should have a smaller population than Atlanta, so it will be little more safe."

"There should be road signs that show you how far away you are from it." Jesse said.

"Yeah, I see one now."

McDonough 22 Miles


	3. Doubts

**Welcome to Chapter 3! I was wondering how this story was going to be taken, but reading the two reviews made me smile.**

 **RelentlessDarkness -** _I have to agree with you. I spent some time thinking about how long I will write before the reunion, and I have figured out some plot points that will tie in with Clementine's story._

 **Tactus501st -** _Thanks mate._

 **Give Your Opinion**

Chapter 3: Doubts

Delmon had been driving for about an hour now, while everyone in the back was doing their own thing. Jesse was in the front with Delmon, looking at the map that he got back from Owen, who was sleeping in the back. They had stopped at a gas station a few miles back to search for gas and possibly more supplies, but as you would expect, they didn't find much. But they ate there before they continued towards McDonough, it was only a couple miles away now.

They would reach their destination soon, and Delmon was set on searching for her there. Delmon sighed and looked in the rear view mirror, he looked at Richard, who was cleaning his gun to pass the time. While doing so, Richard had asked Seth if he knew how to shoot, in which Seth just shook his head, but said it would probably be easy if he needed to use one, and Richard replied with saying it isn't just point and shoot.

Delmon rolled his eyes as Richard began to show Seth the basics on how to shoot a gun. Delmon understood that it would be useful information, but he couldn't help but hear the similarities of Richard's lesson and the one he heard at the police academy. He then looked over to Reynaldo, who was staring out the window, probably thinking about his girlfriend. Delmon sighed as he looked back at the road in front of him.

Reynaldo and himself had known each other since freshman year in highschool, almost ten years. He met Richard in the academy, who was friends with Jesse and Owen, which is how Delmon met them. They had become close friends over the last four years, like Owen said, they were basically his second family at this point. Jesse was right when he said they couldn't risk going towards Atlanta, he didn't want to risk getting everyone eaten.

"We're almost there," Jesse said breaking Delmon's train of thought, "We can look for your sister, and try and find a place to lay low while we wait for the military to clean this mess up."

"Hopefully it will be fixed in a week or so."

"You guy's didn't see what it was like in Atlanta," Seth said, "I don't think the army can fix this."

"Hon…" May spoke.

"You were there too, you saw what it was like. There had to be thousands of them!"

"Thousands?" Reynaldo asked, removing his gaze from the window.

"The whole city was practically falling apart, barely anyone would be able to make it out of there."

Reynaldo looked down at the floor of the car.

"Don't worry man, we'll find her." Delmon said trying to comfort him.

"We don't even know where she could be!"

"Doesn't mean you should give up."

Reynaldo looked back out the window, and Delmon once again sighed as he looked forward. He once again saw a road sign.

McDonough 4 Miles

**20 Minutes Later**

Delmon stepped out of the car as he stuffed the keys in his pocket, "We should probably search those." He said motioning towards the array of buildings as everyone else stepped out of the car.

"Do you think we will find anything?" Seth asked.

"Couldn't hurt to look." Delmon answered.

"Seems like a waste of time."

"Well you're welcome to stay with the car."

Delmon muttered in annoyance.

"Whatever," Seth said going with Owen and Richard.

Delmon, Jesse, and Reynaldo began searching a coffee shop, while Seth, Owen, and Richard went and searched a gun store, which was going to be a longshot. The first group hadn't come across much in the shop except some old pastries, dried blood, and a hostile(Which they quickly took care of), and without finding anything worth mentioning, they walked out and began to search some houses nearby.

In the first house Delmon searched, there wasn't much in it either, but in the next one they found some canned goods. They began searching some more of the houses, finding food, more Hostiles, and a little bit of medical supplies that were in a bathroom cabinet.

"This used to be people's stuff." Reynaldo said.

"Most of them are dead or gone." Jesse said, about to search through the back of a closet, "They aren't going to be using this stuff anymore."

"I know that," He said, "It's just hard not to think about."

"Well it's best not to think about." Delmon muttered.

"I think i found something," Jesse said as he pulled something out of the back of the closet, "It's a safe."

"It looks like a gun safe," Delmon said as he looked at it.

"Well, you just took the mystery out of what could be in it." Reynaldo said.

"It's a three digit code." Jesse stated.

"You could try every single combination."

"Or I could bust it open."

"Good luck with that…" Delmon said.

"Or you know, you could start from 000, it could only take 999 tries." Reynaldo added.

"Whatever." Jesse said pulling his knife out so he could pry it open.

"Let's head back to the car."

When they got back, Owen, Richard, and Seth had already returned.

"You guy's find anything good?" Delmon asked.

"There were a few bullets scattered across the floor in the gun store, but no guns, there was only a few knives left." Richard answered.

"It's lucky we got these guns from the police armoury." Delmon said looking at the weapons they had at the moment

"Then we searched some of the houses and got a little food." Owen added.

"I knew this was a waste of time." Seth muttered.

"Well, Jesse found a gun safe, he's trying to get it opened now." Reynaldo announced.

"Either way, I want to leave this city." Seth said.

"I want to search as much of this place as possible." Delmon told him, "We can use the car and drive further into McDonough."

"Could probably make it close to Macon with the gas we have now, we can't waste it on searching the city." He argued.

"It's our car, not your's."

"That doesn't mean only you can decide."

"We were the ones who helped you!"

"Does that mean I have to listen to every word you say?" Seth questioned.

"You're welcome to leave if you can't!"

"I'm trying to protect my family!"

"I'm trying to find mine!" Delmon yelled.

"You mean the ones that are more than likely dead!?" He yelled, "We can't waste time on searching for bodies!"

Delmon took a step forward towards Seth, only to be stopped when Jesse stepped in between them, "Calm yourself Delmon."

Delmon looked at Jesse and then back at Seth, he stomped towards the car and got in as he slammed the door shut. He grabbed his backpack and began searching through it, as he did he heard the car door open and saw Reynaldo get in and shut the door, "You okay Del." He asked.

"All of this shit is stressing me out," he said putting his face into his hands.

"We're all stressed man," Reynaldo said before sighing, "You're already turning on the people you were trying to help less than a day ago from it."

"He's being an asshole."

"I know… He shouldn't have said that."

"What if it's true? What if they're gone."

"Say's the one who told me not to give up less than two hours ago. And what happened to 'Protect and Serve'?"

Delmon sighed before he lifted the photo of his family out of bag and looked at it. He had to look at the bigger picture, save as many people as possible, it was his job after all.

"The smart choice would be to go towards Macon, but not go into it, get as far away from cities as possible." Delmon stated.

"You okay with that?"

Delmon nodded.

"Then let's go. I'll drive." Reynaldo said getting out of the car to tell the others the plan.

**2 hours later/near Macon**

"Car is out of gas." Reynaldo said.

"We should try and find some," Jesse stated, "I would rather not be forced to walk instead of drive."

"Gas stations are probably empty, we'll need to get it from cars." Delmon added.

"We don't have a gas pump."

"We can suck gas out from cars, we just need a long tube."

"Where do we get one of those?" Seth questioned.

"I don't know… It's either that or we hotwire a car with gas in it."

"We need a car that will fit all of us." Jesse stated, "And that might be kind of difficult to find."

"Well… I say we split up. We can search for a tube or a big enough car, which ever one we find first is what we use."

"Yeah, that will work… how do we split the group."

"I'll go with Reynaldo." Delmon said.

"Seth can go with his family." Jesse added, "Owen, Richard, and me can be in a group as well."

"We meet back here in an hour, and if you find something good come right back and wait for the rest of us." Delmon said as he grabbed his bag.

Everyone seemed to agree to this and they all grabbed their stuff as well. Delmon and Reynaldo both began their search through some houses, finding some food and other supplies, taking care of hostiles that they found as they did so. They also looked around at the cars nearby, most of them were five seaters.

Delmon looked at a map, and noticed that there was a highschool nearby.

"You think that there's anything good there?"

"I'm not sure..." Delmon said.

"There might be a school bus." Reynaldo spoke, "that would fit all of us."

"Buses also take a lot of gas, so there might be a bunch in one if we can pump it out."

"You want to check it out?"

"Let's wait for the rest of the group to do that."

They continued searching the streets and nearby houses, finding some things here and there. The hour was almost up, and they hadn't found a lot. Delmon hoped that maybe the rest of the group had hopefully found something good. He also noticed that they came across quite a few hostiles, probably since they were close to Macon, Delmon they should get further away from it.

Eventually Delmon told Reynaldo that they should probably head back, since he thought that they weren't going to find anything. Reynaldo agreed and they began to head back towards the car. They had walked pretty far from it during there search. But as they walked they started to hear yelling.

"Ah shit!"

"There's too many of them!"

The voices were followed by the sounds of hostiles, the moans and groans filling the air. Delmon and Reynaldo looked at eachother before Reynaldo nodded, they started running towards the source of the sounds. And they came a across three teenagers, and watched as one of the hostiles lunged on top one of them.

"Ah! Ben! Help! Get it off!" A Boy yelled.

"I- I-…" The Boy referred to as Ben stuttered.

"Travis!" A girl screamed.

"Rey! Cmon!" Delmon ordered as he ran forward.

Delmon ran up to the hostile that was on top of the kid and pulled it off, throwing it to the ground. Delmon then took his knife and stabbed it in the eye, and spun around towards the rest of the hord, "Shit." He thought, backing away as he looked at the large number of hostiles.

Delmon grabbed the kid that was on the floor and helped him up, "Run!" He yelled as he and everyone began to book it, dodging out of the way of incoming hostiles. They must have ran for almost two minutes strait, the adrenaline keeping them going, Delmon came to a stop and looked behind himself. Seeing no more danger, he turned towards the kids who were out of breath, 'Thank god for police training.' Delmon thought as he realised that he wasn't breathing as hard as Rey and the teens.

"You guys okay?" Delmon asked the kids.

"Any of you bitten?" Reynaldo asked as well.

"N- No, We're… okay." One of them answered out of breath.

"Thank you." The girl said.

"What are you doing out here?" Delmon asked.

"We're held up in the highschool nearby, we were out of food."

"We came out here looking for some."

"What are your names?" Delmon asked.

"I- I'm Ben… Ben Paul." Ben said, "That's Travis and Alexis."

Ben and Travis were wearing the same uniforms, the only difference being their names sewn on the front right of their blue vests. Alexis' unimorm was similar except she was wearing a skirt with leggings. Delmon looked at them for a few seconds.

"Well, my name is Delmon, and he's Reynaldo"

"Are you kids by yourself?" Rey asked.

"No… there's about ten more of us, including two teachers."

"Only you guys were sent out looking for supplies?"

"No, we had a bigger group, we got split up when those things attacked. Our teacher told us to run the other way." The girl spoke up.

There was a moment of silence, "Can you take us to this school?" Reynaldo asked.


End file.
